Claresholm Solar is located in the Municipal District of Willow Creek and provided more than 350 full-time jobs in Alberta during construction, with peak site personnel reaching over 650 skilled workers. In addition, over the operational life of the project, Claresholm will provide on-going employment along with significant and stable long-term property tax revenue to the local economy.

The majority of Claresholm’s power and associated emission offsets are sold to TC Energy, under the terms of a power purchase agreement (PPA) and the rest of the electricity will be sold into Alberta’s wholesale power pool.

“I’m tremendously proud of our team for safely and successfully completing the Claresholm Solar Project, now Canada’s largest operating solar farm. This was an ambitious project with tight timelines, and Capstone, along with PCL and all our suppliers, had the added burden of overcoming the numerous challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, which they passed with flying colours,” said David Eva, CEO of Capstone.

“Working creatively and with unmatched dedication is integral to Capstone’s business philosophy, and we are extremely pleased to support TC Energy and the critical role that such corporate PPAs play in accelerating the transition to clean energy across North America.”

The Claresholm Solar system will avoid an estimated 149,000 MTCO2 each year when compared to conventional energy sources in Alberta.

“Capstone has shown incredible dedication to bringing this asset into service. Through collaborative partnerships like this one, we are bringing clean energy to the Alberta market,” says Corey Hessen, senior vice president and president of power, storage and commercial marketing for TC Energy. “This PPA represents another step towards reducing our emissions and growing our power business across North America.”

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Capstone operates more than 750 MW of installed capacity across 29 facilities in Canada, including wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and natural gas co-generation power plants.

Obton is a Danish solar investor and developer with more than 10 years of experience in the solar PV market.

Featured image courtesy of Capstone Infrastructure.